Car-seat.



F. E. REED, & E. 0. LANG.

CAR SEAT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1a 1908.

Patented Dec.29,1908. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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GAR SEAT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY13, 190s.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. REED, OF WILMINGTON, AND EDWARD O. LANG, OF MELROSE,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO HEYWOOD BROTHERS AND WAKEFIELD COMPANY, OFWAKEFIELD, MAS- SACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CAR-SE AT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK E. REED and EDWARD O. LANG, of Wilmington andMelrose, respectively, both in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCar-Seats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car seats and consists specifically of anarrangement by which the backs of such seats may be connected with thearms or links in such a way as to permit their ready detachment forcleaning and reupholstering.

The device is adapted to be applied to any of those types of car seat inwhich the back is turned over so that the same side is always forward,whatever may be the direction in which the seat faces, as distinguishedfrom seats of that character which are reversed by pushing the back fromone side to the other of the seat bottom without turning it.

The object of the invention is to rovide an attaching device which willrigid y support the back of a seat and prevent its being loosened by anydirect ressure, however great, applied by a person caning against theback, but which may be readily disconnected by a movement of theseat-back forwardly or toward the seat bottom when it is in its eX tremeor mid-position.

The invention consists, therefore, particularly in a cross-headconsisting of .two members or plates, one of which is secured to theseat-back and the other to the arm or pair of links by which the back ispivotally united to the seat body, there being two of these crossheadsfor each seat, one being attached to each end of the back.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents the invention appliedto one type of car-seat of the turn-over character. Fig. 2 represents afront elevation of the same. Fig. 3 re resents an end elevation of theback equippe with the device constituting our inventlon, but separatedfrom the seat body. Fig. 4 represents, on an enlarged scale, anelevation of a device embodying the invention, showing the manner of itsattachment to a seat-back. Fig. 5 represents a side elevation of thesame, separated from the back. Fig. 6 represents a sectional elevation,showing the interlocking parts of the members of which the device iscomposed, the section being taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7represents a perspective view of the member which is attached to theseat-back. Fig. 8 represents an elevation of the same. Fig. 9 representsa fragmentary sectional view on line 9-9 of Fig. 5. Fig. 10 represents across-section taken on line 10-10 of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 represents across-section on line 1111 of Fig. 5. Fig. 12 represents a perspectiveview of the upper part of that member of the device which is attached tothe arms or links which support the seat-back. Fig. 13 represents afragmentary detail, showing the manner of connecting the parts together.Fig. 14 represents an elevation, showing a modification of the device.Fig. 15 represents an end elevation of the same. Fig. 16 represents anelevation, showing the two members of the device detached.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings, 1 represents the back of a car seat which is attachedto the seat body 2 by the links 3 and 4. The seat as a whole shown inthe drawings is one in common use and is depicted here as being merelyre resentative of the character of seat to w ich our invention may beapplied. There are many other types of seat in which, when the back isshifted to change the direction in which the seat faces, the back isturned over so that the same surface is always forward, and it is to anyone of the different varieties of seat having this characteristic thatour invention may be applied.

The invention consists of a cross-head consisting of the members 5 and6, the first of which is a plate which is attached to the seat-back 1 byscrews 7. It is also provided with dowel pins 8 which determine itsposition while the screws are being set. The

other member 6 has a recess 7 bounded by walls 8 and 9 in which arestuds 10 and 11 to pivotally engage the ends of the links 3 and 4. Thispart of the member 6 is not an essential feature of the invention, butis only employed to adapt the invention to seats of the character shownin Figs. 1 and 2, and where the invention is applied to seats of othertypes, this part will be properly modified.

The essential features of the invention are a rib or flange which iscarried by the member 6 and overlies the rear edge of the member 5, soas to prevent any pressure, however great, applied to the forward sideof the back, from forcing the back away from the member 6, and the armsor links 3 4, and also in some form of attachment between the memberswhich prevents their accidental disengagement in a forward direction,but will permit them to be readily separated when need arises. The ribis represented by 12, and is shown as extending laterally from the rearside of the member 6. The detachable connecting devices illustrated inSheet 2 consist of a stud 13 having a flange 14 and a proQection or rib15 having a flange 16, both of which are on the member 5 and entercorresponding recesses in the member 6. The latter member has a socket17 with a mouth 18 upon the forward side, and undercut to provide alocking flange 19 which takes under the flange or head 14 of the stud1-3, This stud is eccentric, as shown most clearly in Fig. 6, and thesocket is similarly formed. The mouth of the socket is large enough toreceive the lower portion of the stud when the members are turned at anangle to each other, as shown in Fig. 13, but when the stud is insertedand the members turned into alinement or parallelism, the lower part ofthe stud lies behind a shoulder 20 which guards the mouth of the socketand prevents the direct removal of the stud from the socket. The pro'ection or rib. 15 enters a channel 21 in the upper part of the member6, and its flange 16 lies under a flange 22. The cooperating andinterlocking flanges 16 22 and 14 19 prevent lateral separation of themembers of the cross-head, while separation of the projection 15 fromthe groove 21 is, prevented by a latch 23 which extends into a notch 24of the rib 15 and abuts against a shoulder 25. This latch is guidedbetween flanges 26 27 formed in the member 6, and has a shank 28 whichis surrounded by a spring 29 that tends to project the latch so that itwill automatically slip behind the shoulder 25. There is a tongue 30 onthe forward side of the latch which enables an instrument inserted intoa hole 31 to raise the latch and disengage it from the shoulder 25. Whenthe latch is so raised, the projection 15- can be slipped out of thegroove and the plate 5 as a whole then rotated about the stud 13 as apivot until the latter is turned sufficiently to clear the shoulder 20,whereupon it can be removed and the back bodily detached from the member6 and the connected links. lie-attachment of the back is accomplished bya reversal of these movements, and when the rib 15 is completelyinserted in the groove 20, the latch snaps into the recess 24 and locksthe parts. When in this position the edge of plate 5 rests againstflange 12, and the. latter takes the stress applied by the user of theseat. In the foregoing description, the words up and down are used withreference to the position which the parts occupy in the drawings, but ofcourse when the back is reversed, the latch and rib 15 are at the bottomand the stud 13 at the top, while when the back is midway between itstwo positions, the cross-head is horizontal, and the terms denoting therelative height should be read with these modifications in mind.

A modified construction of the cross-head is shown in Figs. 14, 15 and16, wherein yielding instead of positive locks are employed. In thisform, the member 6, which has the back rib 12, is provided with anundercut projection or tongue 32 which enters between two members 33 34on the plate 5. The inner surfaces of the members 33 34 fit the sides ofthe member 32, and both are beveled so that lateral separation isimpossible. Forward separation is yieldingly resisted by bowed springs35 36 which extend over rounded bulges on the outer surfaces of themembers 33 34 and enter recesses 37 38. When, however, it is necessaryto remove the back from the seat, it can be readily done by exertion ofsuflicient force in a forward direction at right angles to the plane ofthe back, or downwardly when the seat is artly turned over. In thismodification, oth ends of the members of the cross-head are identical.

We claim 1. In a car-seat, the combination with a back and an armtherefor, of a cross-head one member of which is connected to the backand the other to the arm, said members having interengaging abutmentsdetachably connected together so as to permit the back to be detached bya forward movement and the abutment of the arm-connected memberoverlying the other member at the rear thereof to prevent its detachmentrearwardly.

2. A car-seat including a back, pivoted arms by which the back isenabled to turn from one side to the other of the seat, and cross-headsby which the back is detachably connected to the arms; each cross-headconsisting of a member connected to an arm and another member attachedto the back, said arm-connected member having a rigid stop arranged atthe rear of the other member so as to prevent separation of the backfrom the arms by rearward pressure thereon, while permitting suchseparation by a movement in a difl erent direction.

3. A car-seat including a back, pivoted arms by which the back isenabled to turn from one side to the other of the seat, and

-members connected respectively to the arms and the ends of the back,said members having inter-engaging overlapping lugs to prevent sidewiseseparation thereof, and the arm-connected member having a rigid rib atits rear against which the back-connected member is held by the pressureof the user upon the back.

4. A car-seat including aback, pivoted arms by which the back is enabledto turn from one side to the other of the seat, members connectedrespectively to the arms and the ends of the back, said members havingundercut ribs on their adjacent sides whereby they are detachablyconnected together and prevented from separating by sidewise movement,and a rib on the rear of the arm-connected member overlying the othermember so as to receive the pressure applied to the back by a user ofthe seat and prevent removal of the back rearwardly.

5. A car-seat including a back, pivoted arms by which the back isenabled to turn from one side to the other of the seat members connectedrespectively to the arms and the ends of the back, said members havingundercut ribs on their adjacent sides whereby they are detachablyconnected together and prevented from separating by sidewise movement,and a yielding retainer for keeping said ribs in engagement andresisting separation of the members in a forward direction but beingreadily disengageable to permit such separation.

6. A car-seat including a back, pivoted arms by which the back isenabled to turn from one side to the other of the seat, membersconnected respectively to the arms and the ends of the back, saidmembers having undercut ribs on their adjacent sides where by they aredetachably connected together and prevented from separating by sidewisemovement, a rib on the rear of the arm-connected member overlying theother member so as to receive the pressure applied to the back by a userof the seat and prevent removal of the back rearwardly, and a retainerfor keeping said ribs in engagement and resisting forward separation ofthe members,

said retainer being yieldingly disengageable to permit such separation.

7. A cross-head for detachably connecting a seat-back to the seat,consisting of two plates, one of which has undercut projections arrangedto slip into locking relation with cooperating ribs on the other, andthe second of which has a back flange overlying the rear edge of thefirst member.

8. A cross-head for detachably connecting a seat-back to the seat,consisting of two plates, one of which has undercut projections arrangedto slip into locking relation with cooperating ribs on the other, andthe second of which has a back flange overlying the rear edge of thefirst member, and a spring latch opposing separation of said projectionsand ribs, but being disengageable from its locking relation against ayielding resistance.

9. A cross-head for detachably connecting a seat-back to the seat,consisting of two plates, one of which is attached to the back and theother is connected to the seat, said first member having a headedeccentric stud and the second member an undercut socket shaped tocorrespond to said stud, the socket having a mouth in one side intowhich th' stud may slip when the plates are out of their operativerelation, and in which the stud is locked when the plates areoperatively located, cooperating overlapping flanges on said plateslocated so as to engage when said stud and socket are locked together,and a latch on one of the members engaging the other to maintain theengagement of said flanges.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures, in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANK E. REED. EDWARD C. LANG. Witnesses:

WM. E. PITTOOK, WILL M. Dow.

